Slaughter Zone
by Z-Cat9612
Summary: When a Man's Girlfriend is kidnapped, he goes to the ends of the earth to retrieve her, slaughtering everything in his path.
1. Chapter 1

The cool breeze produced by the ceiling fan was refreshing, creating a relaxing ambience as I lay on my bed, listening to the serenity of the birdsongs outside.

Suddenly, my cellphone buzzed in response to a call. Almost antiquated by comparison to other smart phones used today, it makes you wonder why I hold onto such an old piece of technology. Well, unlike other phones, it comes as a tiny piece of armored social technology, able to be dropped in water, run over by a semi-truck, and blown to bits by TNT and still works at optimum performance. All this, and I can open it with the push of a button just to answer a call. Picking it up, I sighed and pressed the button being just described.

"Hello?" I answered.

A female's gasp of relief rang in my ears. "Rylan! Thank goodness you're there!"

"Silvia?" I replied. "What's wrong?"

"Listen, I don't have much time." She paused, taking a breath. In the background I could hear boots slamming against wood, and I almost thought I could smell a bit of smoke. "There are these men. They broke into my house, killed my parents, and are trying to break into my room."

"I'm gonna store the coordinates in a safe. The number is nineteen, twenty-two, and thirty-six." She paused once more, then resumed. "If you get the note, find me at that location! I'll be waiting."

Then the door burst open. Gunshots rang through the air by the earpiece. She gasped, then followed by "I love you!" came a scream, and nothing but static filled the air.

I sat there on my bed, my mind reeling. Strangely, the only thing that I could think about were those last words.

I shook myself_. Pull yourself together, your girlfriend has just been kidnapped!_ Shaken by the recent events I grabbed my switchblade and tromped downstairs, almost tripping over the fat cat that laid sprawled out on the bottom step, one of four cats that I have inside my rundown home. Opening the door to the garage, I hesitated, my head swimming with what I might see if I followed through with my plan. Finally my head cleared. I jumped into the blue SAAB 9-3 that sat in my parking spot, and, starting the engine I pulled out of the driveway and into the streets of the city of Orlando.

My name is Rylan Attesh. I am twenty-four years old, a senior at the University of Central Florida. Both Silvia and I are the same age, and we live in Orlando, Florida.

Silvia Feer, a gorgeous woman with hazel eyes, red hair, and a slender build. Which explains why she's my girlfriend.

Back to the tale, I drove up the street to a busy intersection, then turned left. After fifteen minutes of old buildings and great large trees, I saw a plume of smoke rising from my intended destination. I turned right onto a back road that led to a small mansion.

As I pulled into view I was greeted by not the liberating feeling of gazing upon incredible and beautiful architecture. Instead, my heart plummeted as my eyes laid their gaze on the chaos that had unfolded among the estate.

Once beautiful cypresses now lay in charred ashes and blackened stumps. Hedges didn't even look as though they had served as a fence along the premises. In the middle of it all sat a giant, blackened, smoking heap of rubble.

When I walked closer, I could see harsh red embers dancing along charred pillars that once held up the structure. Everywhere I looked, I saw nothing but smoke, ash, rubble, and a slight gleam of silver.

I stopped. _Silver?_ I thought as I ventured nearer to the object in question. Peering out of the scorched earth was a small safe.

I stiffened. _The safe!_ Crouching down beside it, I tried to remember the code. _'The combination is nineteen, twenty-two, and thirty-six'._ Silvia's words drifted through my head, a ghost of what remained of her.

Inputting the combination, the safe popped open, revealing a note. Hastily scrawled on the note was:

_63.396135,-100.883331_

I sat there for a moment, then got up, walked to the car, and drove home. Sliding into my desk I booted up my laptop and waited for it to load, when the sounds of sirens reached my ears. _Not a moment too soon_, I thought to myself as I gazed out the window.

Finally, the login screen popped up and I unlocked my desktop. I opened my web browser and looked up the coordinates. What popped up looked to be a small peninsula jutting out into a small lake. The location registered in Nunavut, Dubawnt Lake.

I hopped up out of my chair, grabbed my duffle bag, and filling it with tools and rations found in the pantry, mostly toaster pastries, water bottles, and crackers, and enough clothes to last me three days. Throwing the bag over my shoulder and grabbing my lightweight jacket, I double checked to make sure I had everything, and remembered I hadn't grabbed my wallet. I quickly ran back upstairs, grabbed it off of my dresser, then tromped downstairs and got in the car. I drove to the airport, then purchased the cheapest plane ticket they had to, made my way through security, and departed. The plane ride was quite enjoyable, but as I walked off the landing strip at Taduole Lake, I had a strange feeling that I might not be going back home.

To my surprise there was a car rental dealership in the small town of Taduole Lake, so thankfully I wasn't trekking through the barren tundra on foot. I purchased a 2010 Ford Ranger, tossed my bag in the backseat and purchased extra food from a nearby general store, and with the heat blasting I drove into the most uninhabited country in the world to face the unknown dangers that lie ahead.

The terrain views were stunning. Imagine a winter wonderland overlooking a frozen lake, ice shimmering like needles of crystal as the tundra sun hits them. All around me where the sun touched ice the world shimmered and sparkled, making it seem like a massive diamond. On and on this went, for miles upon miles. The scenery started to blur with time, and I became more focused on the mission of rescuing Silvia.

Finally, I reached the Dubawnt's shore; yet another expanse of frozen, crystallized liquid. Exiting the truck, I gazed across and saw several islands, hard to discern from one another.

I grabbed my phone and activated its GPS feature and, glancing at the paper inputted the coordinates. I looked up and saw that thankfully I was on the right trail; a path of small islands leading to the mainland that held my destination. Taking a deep breath, I slowly walked forward and waded through the freezing lake.

The water swirled around me in a searing vortex of icy needles, threatening to impale me with every stroke that brought me closer to the nearest island. After what felt like hours of battling the looming threat of exhaustion, I finally staggered onto the shore of the first island, drenched in icy water. The sheer wind seemed to blow straight through me as I stood shivering on the wet sand. Then when I gathered the courage to press on, I exhaled into the wintery night and slipped into the water, heading for the next island. The pain struck me like a hammer, and blackness started to close in on my vision. I squeezed my eyes shut tight, fighting back the urge to give up. Moment after moment passed like this, until finally I crawled onto the shore of the second island. This land was larger than the first, with a few trees growing in several areas. I laid down under one of them and rested for a second, catching the oxygen that had been robbed from me in the swim. I pulled out my phone and looked to my relief that there was only one more island left- my destination.

As I stared at the screen I began to hear the sounds of humanity, and the faint sound of helicopter rotors as one lifted up and into the night. I finally got up from my temporary refuge, pocketed my phone and continued to trek beneath the trees. I reached the end of the island and plunged once more into the inky blackness of cold water and waded through to the last island. As I swam nearer I began to hear more noises, some less human than I would've liked them to be. I reached the island a couple minutes later and stared into the deep dark forest of creatures unknown to man. Unsheathing my switch blade, I continued into the woods of pine that would surely spell certain doom for me.

As soon as I stepped off of the beach and into the shadows, the forest went silent. It was as though the whole world was holding its breath in anticipation of events to come. Slowly I crept though the undergrowth, making sure not to make a sound. Suddenly, the sound of a helicopter's rotors filled the air as a military grade Chinook cargo craft landed off in the distance, its twin rotors slowly coming to a halt. While I still had the chance, I quickly made my way towards the clearing- only to find my path blocked by an enormous wall.

It stretched off in both directions about two miles, and rose as high as one mile. Its dark gray concrete barely visible in the glare of the moon, I noticed that there were spotlights on both corners- I guessed there would be the same on the other side.

Men dressed in brownish yellow uniforms patrolled at the top of the wall, switching from looking inside the walls to the outside. As I observed the uniformed men, I saw a spotlight beam sweeping towards my location. I quickly dove back into the shadows of the pine trees as the light swept over where I had just been standing. I let out a sigh of relief, then examined the spotlight sweeps and guard rotations carefully. After careful planning, I waited for the beam to sweep back over my location, then made a run for the safety in the shadows of the wall, then sidestepped my way to the closest edge of the wall. From there, I began looking for a way into the fortress. My gaze fell on a small vent at the bottom of the wall, almost concealed by the brush growing around it. The vent itself was about two feet by one foot, big enough for a small person to wriggle through. I quickly ran over to the vent, and realized that hot air was blowing through instead of an icy breeze. Suddenly I thought, _How could a deciduous plant could grow in such a harsh environment?_ I removed the grate covering the vent using my knife as a screw driver, and peered inside.

The sudden blast of sweltering heat burst into my face, and I recoiled against the sudden change in temperature. The ventilation shaft continued for about ten feet, then opened up into a bright light. Covering my eyes, I knelt down and began to crawl through until I reached the end. To my dismay, the exit was blocked by another grate. Pausing for a moment, pooling out gallons of sweat, I took a breath and then began to saw through the bars holding me back. Thankfully the metal was soft due to the constant exposure to the hot air. The metal stood no chance against my tempered steel knife, and the grate gave way a few minutes later.

Blinking to adjust to the sudden light that flooded the shaft, I looked out and gaped at what I beheld.

The whole complex was composed of trillions of species of tropical plants, thriving in the heat that was pumped out by many more vents like the one I was concealed by. Along the far wall I noticed were six short rectangular pyramids, with a path leading underneath the shorter side; a trench dug out of the earth only to lead into the dirt it was made from.

To my left was a large circular pit, with a round pedestal rising from it to come only a couple inches short of the main hole. The particles around the pedestal quavered, probably because of the heat surrounding me, but I couldn't be sure. To my right was a big cement building, connected to the outer wall and rising about five stories high. Above the building I saw the Chinook take off and rise out of sight from beneath the trees.

I crawled out of the shaft and claimed a large shrub as my hiding place, checked through my minimal inventory, then waited for a clue as to the whereabouts of Silvia. The same question kept going through my mind, over and over again, thinking, _What the heck is this place?_

That's when I noticed the inhabitants.

Hundreds of creatures of all shapes, sizes, and colors were lying around the complex, eyeing each other with desperation, hunger, and hatred. A pack of huge wolven creatures were prowling around, snarling at anyone who got in their way. A couple of enormous creatures almost three times my size bumped into each other. One growled at the other, and then blood started to fly as they ripped each other to shreds. The victor stooped over his fallen victim and started to devour his corpse hungrily. Several skinny pallid creatures perched in the trees eyed the carcass hungrily, waiting for their turn to strike at the feast.

Suddenly, a reinforced door on the building opened and a short, slender red haired girl toppled out as though shoved by unseen hands. As she looked up, I noticed her eyes were red as though she had been crying, a blood streamed out of a fresh wound on her right arm. Her clothes were practically shredded, showing more of the torture she endured. She glanced toward my hiding place behind the shrub, but didn't appear to see me. She slowly limped away from the building, leaning heavily on her right leg. With each slump, we both winced in pain, me horrified by the thoughts of what her captors did to her to leave her in such terrible condition.

Suddenly, searing pain shot up my spine as something large and hairy cannoned into my right leg, ripping it off completely. I toppled to the ground, blood spurting out of the fresh wound. Then several more of the things tackled me and started ripping the rest of my limbs off one by one. I moaned as I writhed in pain, and Silvia continued to scream. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a guardsman peer over the wall, holler for assistance, then took aim and fired. The bullet hit one of the creatures and it slumped to the ground, blood pouring out of a fresh wound in its head.

Finally one of the creatures jumped eagerly onto my chest, jaws aimed to tear at my throat. My heart racing in terror, I watched the beasts rip their claws through the soft skin, I thought _This is the end of Rylan Attesh_. I shut my eyes tight, not wanting to see the gore that would follow.

Suddenly, the pain lessened. I felt a set of claws leave my stomach, then another set. I opened my eyes just enough to see a guard dragging and throwing the creatures off of my blood-soaked body.

"Are you okay, son?" the guard asked as he lifted me off the ground.

I tried to answer, but my tongue couldn't form the words. Blackness crowded rapidly at the edge of my vision; the world began to blink in and out, until everything faded. I felt my heart slow to a dead stop, my throat convulsing as I tried to breathe.

Then everything was silent, and I felt myself slip away and vanish.


	2. Chapter 2

I don't know how, but I woke up.

The first thing through my head was _Who am I?_

Everything was black. My back felt colder than the rest of me, as though I was pressed against something metal. I felt different, as though everything was in the wrong place. I felt warmer, even though I didn't have any clothes on. I felt stronger, yet I knew I was weak.

I opened my eyes for the first time to see my rebirth.

Gasping, I saw black fur covering a muscular yet limber body. My legs were divided into three segments, resembling a cat's legs. In between my legs, I saw a sleek black tail waving. Glancing at my arms, I noticed that I was strapped to a morgue table. Suddenly, the straps restraining me sprung loose and I sat up, raising my hands to my head. Gazing back at them, I noticed the razor sharp claws protruding from my fingertips.

I stepped off the table, feeling light headed. The world seemed to spin around me, threatening to sweep me off my padded feet. Reaching to my head, I felt delicate fur-covered ears.

"Well, well, well," someone boomed in a strong English accent. "Look who's just come back from the dead!"

The man's voice echoed around the chamber, and I covered my ears against the harsh noise. "What do you mean, dead?" I growled in a strong voice. "Where am I?"

"It seems as though you have lost your memory. I have simply improved your genetics, and brought you back from the dead!" He shouted, matching my tone. The man stepped into the room through a hidden door, and my tail lashed in anticipation "I am Grand Coordinator Bullock Pyarith, commanding officer of Sector Twelve. Slaughter Zone, as my wonderful creations call it, is used by the worldwide government as a top secret research facility."

"When I brought you to the lab, you had bled out and died before I even picked you up." Pyarith started to talk more calmly now. "Strangely, we felt piteous that you had to die. So we gave you a second chance at life by reconstructing your body."

"Fixing your limbs was the first step." He continued. "Using the strands of cat hair that we found on your clothes, we changed your genetics to where your cells would begin respawning at a faster rate. If you look at your left shoulder, you'll notice that we placed a microchip into your arm. This is to ensure that you don't try anything particularly stupid."

"The new DNA not only healed you, but it strengthened you. It did so much more than we anticipated." Pyarith stated, his voice rising steadily. "You have become as limber and as agile as a cat, yet retained human ingenuity. You are a new species that steps out above the world of mankind, slaughtering everything in your path. You will have forgotten everyone you once cared about, but you are among valuable new friends. Now, you will be truly tested in arena combat, where you will prove your usefulness in this organization." He was shouting now. "Go, and fight with every instinct you have!"

Suddenly, I felt the floor rising beneath me, slowly elevating up through the roof of the small chamber. As I passed through the hole that had suddenly opened in the ceiling, I looked out and noticed that I had risen into the arena. The night sky shone crystal clear in the artificial atmosphere above, and the air blew cold on my fur. The platform was no more than thirty feet in diameter, and the air warbled with heated molecules at the edge of the platform. Tail lashing in anticipation, I looked around to see a large crowd starting to gather around the outer edge of the pit. Creatures of many shapes stood around the raised platform, held back only by the swirling heat that I later came to realize as boiling magma. As one, they started to growl and scream with bloodlust, hatred so tense it became palpable within seconds.

Suddenly one of the creatures on the opposite side of the arena leaped over the gap and stood on the opposite side of the platform. It was three times my size and was covered in silver razor sharp spines and claws, and under that was just russet fur. Red eyes gleamed over sharpened tusks that jutted out of its mouth at dangerous angles.

The beast roared with fury, then charged at me. I jumped out of the way just as its claws slashed through the air where I had been a second ago. Unsheathing my claws, I sprung onto the creature's back. As I struggled to maintain a steady grip, the thing reared up suddenly and slammed my body under its immense weight. Blackness threatened to drown me, and I fought back against it. The creature rose off of me, then prepared to deal the killing blow.

Shaking my head I recovered quickly from the sudden onslaught and rolled out of the way of the blow, then slid underneath the beast's belly. I dug my claws into its soft stomach and dragged my hand from his chest to his rear and sliced the skin open. Fresh blood poured out of the new wound, soaking the ground swiftly

The creature roared with rage. It slipped in the massive crimson puddle pooling from beneath it and stumbled, floundering in its own blood, growing weaker by the minute. Taking the advantage, I leaped onto its back, and aimed for the creature's neck- perhaps the only unprotected spot on its back- and lunged for the spinal cord with long sharpened canines. They stuck tight into the skin, and I ripped its central nervous system out, spine and brain. The beast howled in agony, then dropped dead a second later, blood spilling out of its mouth.

Panting hard and soaked in the vile creature's blood, I slowly rose of its back on shaking legs and dropped the torn organs beside the giant carcass. Not a sound was heard from the audience as I made my way towards the edge of the platform, prepared to jump, then sprang over the fifteen foot wide chasm. The spectators parted and made a way for me to pass through, not daring to break the silence, and as I left the crowd behind, they started to mutter to each other in their own languages. Not knowing what I was doing I dropped to all fours and ran over to the nearest tree, dug my claws into the moist bark and began to climb. I reached the lowest branch and clambered on, reclined against the trunk and closed my eyes, falling asleep instantly.

When I returned to the wakeful world, it was dawn. The sun was beating down on my face, and I blinked to adjust to the bright light. Smacking my jaws, I stood up on the branch, perfectly balanced, and stretched, gratefully letting the sun warm my fur. Looking around, I finally got a good look at my surroundings. The branch I was perched in rose maybe twenty-seven feet off the ground. I looked over to my left and saw the arena, the beast's carcass still lying in its pool of blood. I turned to my right and saw a five story building with razor wire decorating the edge of the roof. The whole complex was enclosed in a wall that rose half a mile from the ground. When I turned to examine the other end of the complex, I felt a sudden wind brush past my fur, and I realized that I wasn't alone.

Leaping to the end of the branch about ten feet away, I spun around and growled and the newcomer, but stopped abruptly when I noticed that it was just a woman. The newcomer short and slender and had a vividly red color to her hair, which was tied back in a long braid. She was dressed in a black jumpsuit, and had a switch blade tucked into her left boot.

"Relax, rookie," she started off. "I'm not here to kill you."

"Well, what are you here for then?" I asked, relaxing my ears but keeping my muscles loaded, ready to spring if needed to.

"I just came to say hello." She stated, raising her hands as a friendly gesture. "I figured you would want a nice welcome, especially after what happened last night." She nodded her head towards the carcass. "Not very many people can take down a sabre as fast as you did."

"So that's what that thing was?"

The woman nodded in confirmation. "You're still covered in its blood. That's how I found you up here."

I stared at her in shock. "You can _smell_ the blood?"

"Well, duh. Pyarith fused my genetics with a wolf for crying out loud!"

"You know Pyarith?"

She returned the stare. "He greeted you when you woke up, didn't he? Pyarith heads all the experiments here. Genetic mutation, cloning, xenografting, you name it. All kinds of experiments on humans that would make your… well, your fur crawl. When an experiment is successful, he personally greets it and determines its level of intelligence. "

My head spun with confusion. "You don't look very wolf-like," I skeptically pointed out.

She sighed in frustration. "Do you see all the wolves walking around down there?" She pointed towards the ground. I followed her gaze.

"What about them?" I asked.

"Pyarith thought it would be interesting to give me all the advantages of a wolf without altering my personal appearance." The lady explained.

I hung my head. "Great, and I thought I had finally found a normal human being," I groaned.

"Look, do want the blood off of you or not?" she questioned impatiently, sitting down on the branch. I nodded and then crawled over to her, laying my head on her lap. My tail automatically curled around me, and I closed my eyes. I felt her tongue slide over the back of my neck, and I started to purr in instinct to the relaxing sensation. "So, where are you from?" she asked.

"I don't know."

She stopped drinking. "What do you mean you don't know? You have to have come from somewhere."

"Look, I literally don't know," I started, "I woke up yesterday in a chamber beneath the arena, and some guy named Pyarith told me I was brought back to life using cat hair from my old clothes apparently." I paused, then asked, "You got a name?"

"My name is Silvia."

Silvia finished cleaning my fur thirty minutes later, then with a hasty goodbye left the tree. I was left perched in the tree, wondering why her name kept nagging at my chest. I glanced down and saw the same creatures that had surrounded the arena yesterday, and for the first time I took pity on them. Seeing them ambling aimlessly, moping about, their eyes filled with hopelessness, made me wonder what it was that was so dangerous about these poor beings that they had to trapped in such a terrible place.


	3. Chapter 3

About a week had passed and the days started to blur together. One day however, a gunshot rang around the complex, jolting me awake from a midday nap, and I heard a yelp come from a wolf-like creature that had been resting in front of one of the dugouts, now lay splayed out with fresh blood pouring out of its left flank. I looked at the top of the wall to see a guard trying to stifle his laughter as another guard took aim and killed another of the wolves. Then a loud howl echoed around the enclosure, and I turned back again to see several more of the wolves came out of the dugout behind the corpses and mourn the loss of their brethren.

Several other creatures stopped and looked at the top of the wall with loathing boiling in their gazes. A quadruped insectoid creature started chattering anxiously, rubbing its fore claws together swiftly. Another creature, which resembled an aggressive panther with bulky forearms and spikes protruding from every corner of its back growled viciously, then prodded over to a different dugout and vanished into the gloom. The sabres just pounded the ground in rage, causing my tree to shake vigorously.

Silvia popped her head out of the farthest dugout to the right and looked around with a worried expression on her face. But once she saw me, relief flooded her reaction and she started heading my way.

By the time she reached the tree, the wolves had taken the dead into their dugout and everything went quiet. Silvia leaped onto my branch with ease, jostling the wood slightly.

"What was that all about?" I asked her once she sat down.

"Occasionally the guards get bored and decide to spend their time gunning down the inhabitants," she replied solemnly, "It apparently keeps them in line."

I frowned. "That doesn't seem very humane."

"Well, the guards seem to think so," she said, glancing up at the guardsmen who were still laughing.

"Pyarith puts up with it?"

"Pyarith doesn't know. He spends all of his time underground, infatuated with his projects.

We sat there for a moment in silence, taking in the scenery, and then I turned back to Silvia.

"So, how did you get captured?" I asked her.

She sighed as she lowered her head. "It started about two years ago. I was still in college, and I had been tasked with writing a report on the tourism aspects of a country of my choice." She chuckled slightly, then continued; "Rylan, my boyfriend had chosen Japan- even though he knew I wanted it. So instead I browsed around for another country, and I ended up researching Nunavut, a region of Canada that's on top of the world, and almost no one knows about it."

"That's when I made my big mistake. I had the misfortune of looking too closely at the Dubawnt Lake using Google Earth satellites, and the Hunters found out who was using the camera. So they shipped me off Sector Twelve, made use of their newfound resource, and imprisoned me here."

Silvia glanced at me quizzically. "You know, I still don't know your name."

I shook my head. "I don't think I have one. Pyarith didn't say anything about it, so I guess it doesn't mean anything anymore."

"Well, you have to be called something. Otherwise, how will we communicate efficiently?"

Suddenly, I felt like someone had smashed my left shoulder's pressure point and my muscles tensed up, leaving me immobile.

"What's-happening?" I grunted in between gritted teeth.

Silvia looked me up and down. "Looks as though your tag has been activated."

"Wouldn't I be dead if the tag's been activated?"

"Not necessarily," She pointed out; "the operators can control the voltage remotely, thus making the tags useful for more than one purpose."

"Really?" I snorted sarcastically. "Good to know. When does it stop?"

She shrugged. "Usually when you do what the higher-ups want you to do."

"Which is?" I snapped.

"I don't know! Try asking them!"

With that comment the shocking stopped and I gasped, lost my balance, and fell out of the tree, landing on all fours on the moist ground. Standing up and brushing myself off, I looked at Silvia, who was still in the tree, to see her trying to stifle her amusement at my sudden misfortune.

"I think I know what they want!" I shouted up to her. "I'll see you later…. hopefully!"

I bounded over to the main building and waited by a reinforced door that was shielded by what seemed to be iron girders. Further inspecting the door, I noticed a tiny camera positioned to where it was impossible to see from looking at any other angle than right at it. I waved at the camera, half expecting that no one was even watching the video feeds, but to my surprise the door creaked then slowly slid into the walls on either side, revealing nothing but blackness.

Near blackness.

As my eyes had also become catlike in nature, They easily perceived the inky black that apparently filled the atmosphere. I stepped through the entrance, only to jump forward when the doors suddenly slammed into each other at a faster speed then I was expecting. My tail swept from side to side as though to make sure it was still there, and then looking closer I saw a small corridor at the end of the dark chamber. Other than that there seemed to be nothing else of importance in the room, until I saw the ceiling.

The whole ceiling consisted of dozens of turrets, mostly likely laser, as they would not be able to contain a large amount of ballistic ammo. They were arranged in a grid, about a foot in between each turret. I proceeded through the hallway with caution, careful not to let whoever was watching me get suspicious and open fire. The hallway ended at a staircase, which led both up and down.

Suddenly, my fur tingled, alerting me that I was not alone.

"You truly are a masterpiece of my ingenuity, boy."

I looked at the set of stairs leading up to see Pyarith staring at me with a sly smile on his face. "You're wondering why I summoned you," He began as his smile faded. "If you would follow me, I have a bit to discus with you."

He motioned for me to follow him up the stairs and I hesitated, not knowing whether or not I could trust him.

"It's quite alright." He reassured me, urging me to follow him. "If I had wanted to kill you I would've left you for dead at the hands of those worgs."

Suddenly my stomach turned upside down and my heart raced a million miles an hour, trying to break out of my chest. I asked myself _What does that have to do with you? Just calm down and forget about it. _But as I followed Pyarith up the stairs, the theory kept nagging me at the back of my head.

We ascended eight flights of stairs, coming out on the top floor. I was greeted by the sight of a large elliptical table with ten chairs arranged neatly and spaced equally around it. Seated in eight of the chairs were men of elder age, their gray hair and facial scars showing their pride in what they do and their many years of doing it. Various monitors glowed with multiple images and videos of the inhabitants of the camp going about their daily business, even some of my fight with the sabre. Another was showing my recent meeting with Silvia. Finally, the far wall was composed of nothing but-

"Glass?" I asked in bewilderment. The others stared silently at me, not knowing what to think of one of their captors having access to the main building.

"Actually, it's one giant monitor that portrays the essence of being glass," the youngest of the men at the table stated uninterested. His voice had a gruff tone to it, as though English was not his first language.

"Do you really think we'd put windows in this establishment?" another man pointed out snidely. "The monsters out there would've overrun us in a heartbeat."

Pyarith walked over to the empty seat on the far end of the table and sat down, motioning for me to do likewise. The other seat was opposite his. I sat down in the chair, wrapping my tail across my lap and leaned my elbows on the table. The others looked upon me with disdain, making me feel so uncomfortable that I slowly slid my arms of the table, but not without leaving claw marks at the edge. Then the door shut behind me, and Pyarith cleared his throat.

"You are all wondering why I've brought this, _creation_ of mine into your presence," he started off with a pause, and then turned to me. "You've probably noticed that there's something more to you than what you've been told."

"Skip to the point already, Pyarith!" the youngest shouted impatiently.

Pyarith shot a glare at the man so intense that I could feel the fear rolling off of him. The man backed down instantly. "That's quite enough, Mr. Dagmar," the Coordinator said in a cool tone. Turning to me again, he continued. "How would like to know some things about your past?"

I glanced around at the others nervously, wondering what to say. Finally, I found the words I needed to speak, and spoke them. "Well, that all depends on what you can show me."

He grinned. "Son, I can show you the last thirty minutes of your life, and tell you why you're trapped here in Sector Twelve."

I leaned forward eagerly, intent on what was to come next. The man he called Dagmar raised an eyebrow, curious in what was going on.

He jerked his arm toward the monitor showing me and Silvia, and everyone's eyes followed his pointed finger to the screen. The screen then switched to an image of a vent shaft in the wall, and the video started playing. As I watched, I saw the grate start to jiggle, and then a black blade appeared, seeming to saw through the metal covering. Pyarith then fast forwarded through the video, but paused it once the grate fell off. Resuming the video, I saw a human male dressed in a black sweatshirt and denim jeans crawl through the hole and look around in awe. He then proceeded to crouch behind a small shrub and wait for… what?

Without moving his eyes from the screen, Pyarith spoke solemnly. "You might want to watch this, if you wish to know how you got here, boy."

Suddenly a faint scream could be heard and I turned my head back to the monitor to see the human's leg get torn off by a worg that jumped out of nowhere and now was joined by three other worgs that started tearing his limbs off, one by one. Blood pooled around him, and the worgs eagerly dug into the mess like piranhas on a corpse. Finally, the worgs lunged to finish him off by ripping apart his midsection, but were intercepted by Dagmar, who began to toss the worgs away with bullets ripping through their skulls. Then he picked the adolescent up, soaked with blood, missing both arms, both legs, and a chunk out of his stomach. Just the sight of the eviscerated mass of flesh was enough to activate my gag reflex. The video kept playing for a while, when suddenly a girl with vivid red hair wearing in a torn black skirt ran over to the bush and crouched down. She picked an object up from off the ground, then turned and stared in the direction that Dagmar went, simultaneously revealing her face.

_Wait a second_; I thought in amazement as I watched the two talk. _That's-_

"Silvia?" As I spoke her name, everyone at the table turned to stare at me.

Everyone except Pyarith and Dagmar.

Then the video ended. The unnatural silence that followed was almost torture to my enhanced senses, and I began to fidget with my claws.

"And that, my boy, is how you managed to get tangled up in this mess." Pyarith concluded as the monitor blacked out.

"Wait, who was that boy?" I stuttered out the question, completely baffled.

"All in due time, son." another person stated.

"Now as payment for this meeting, I'm ordering you to fight one of our homegrown breeds, just to test its effectiveness in combat." Pyarith proposed. "If you can kill it before it kills you, then you will receive one last thing from us and you may continue whatever it is that you do in this infernal prison."

After those parting words, Dagmar rose to his feet and escorted me down stairs to the darkened corridor. "Time to die, pussy cat!" he snarled with a cackle as he left me to the pitch black.


	4. Chapter 4

The door opened and I exited the building, heading for the arena. A crowd was already gathering around the edge of the pit, and as the cat calls and jeers rose, I made my way through the crowd. The last thing I saw before the crowd closed off my path thus blocking my view of anything behind them was Silvia sitting in the tree, right where I left her.

The creature before me was huge, about twice my height. It crawled around like a beetle, but each of its four legs was tipped by a wickedly sharp barb, no doubt impregnated with toxins. Its head was nothing more than a large mouth with eyestalks growing from either side of it. Its arms sprouted from below its belly, and they terminated with giant scythe-like claws. It kept hissing at anyone who got too close to it, lashing out with its claws, occasionally hitting an unlucky beast and making them fall into the pit, where they boiled to death.

I sighed and cracked my knuckles, preparing to jump. "Time to go to work," I mumbled under my breath as I sprung onto the island. The creature spun around instantly, screeching, then lunged at me, claws outstretched. I dodged to the right just as the claw passed over my head. Bunching my leg muscles, I sprung past the beast's back- my intended target- and almost fell into the lava. I dug into the sidewall with my claws, and prepared to leap back to the island.

Without warning, a claw swished over my head, missing my neck by mere inches. Hissing, I sprung into a backflip and sailed over the insectoid. Crouching for a charge, I sighted my target, only to realize it was not there.

Suddenly, pain arced up my spine as one of the beast's legs struck my upper thigh. Flailing wildly, I growled and swiped at the creature's leg, severing the fore tip. Screaming, the beast stumbled, and I took the shot. Tensing up, I prepared to spring, and then my leg gave way. Hissing, I flopped to the floor, and the creature aimed for my exposed back, but it stumbled too and collapsed to the floor, skittering to get up. I stood up and limped over to the helpless creature, whose arms were pinned beneath its immense exoskeleton. Narrowing my eyes, I focused on the creature's neck, and then brought my claws under and up, ripping the head off completely. The insectoid stopped chattering, and I tossed the bugs head into the fiery pit surrounding the island.

The other creatures surrounding the island started cheering, and a couple even threw themselves across the gap, grabbing hold of either end to form an artificial bridge. Gratefully I hobbled my way across and limped across the complex, reaching the main building just as the door opened. Reaching the stairs, I looked up to see Pyarith descending to me carrying what looked like a wallet.

"I'm impressed that you've made it this far, boy," the coordinator began, looking at my injured leg. "Unfortunately we are not authorized to treat that injury."

He passed off the wallet to me, then muttered; "Now out with your kind, and consider this the last time we ever come face to face."

The next day, I was to be found in my tree licking my leg with no significant progress in ridding myself of the pain. The wallet sat next to me, caked in dried blood and unopened.

Silvia dropped by a minute later, a look of concern on her face.

"That bite on your leg looks pretty bad," she pointed out.

I turned to look at her. "No way, you think so?" I snapped sarcastically.

She backed off. "Hey, no need for the sarcasm, okay?"

"Sorry," I apologized. "I guess I'm just tense after what I saw yesterday." I nodded at the wallet on the branch and Silvia followed my gaze, and then gasped.

"Where did you get that?" she screeched quietly, her voice a high pitched squeal. She tried to seize the wallet, but I held her back using my claws.

"Wait a second, now," I told her, pointing towards my leg. "The wallet for the treatment."

Silvia nodded her head vigorously, and I let her pass. Instantly she swooped down, grabbed the wallet, and tore it open. The pungent odor of dried blood reached my nose, and I recoiled against it.

"Where did you find this?" she asked again.

"Pyarith gave it to me as my reward for taking down that creature last night," I replied. "He said it had something to do with my past."

Suddenly, I lurched forward and almost fell out of the tree, but Silvia caught me and sat me down on the branch propped up against the tree trunk. "Stay here." She jumped to the foliage-covered ground, and began to rummage around.

When she returned, her arms were full of various leaves. Silvia gingerly set them down on the branch, selected a few out of the bunch, and then proceeded to grind them up between two stones. I could have sworn she even spit into the mix a couple of times. Before long, she had created a slick, gooey, glob of green leaves.

"Eat up." Silvia handed me the mixture, which clung to the stone like glue. I gave it a disdainful sniff. It had a strange cool air about it, almost like mint. Shrugging, I licked it off of the rock. It tasted just like it smelled, and went down like soggy bread.

Immediately I began to feel its effects. The burn of toxins coursing through my veins was lessening, until it faded out of existence completely. "Wow," I breathed. "Where'd you learn to do THAT?"

"In college, I was training to be a biochemist," she stated. "I never thought I would actually have to prepare an antitoxin in the wild, though."

We sat in silence, watching the bustle of the creatures as they ambled aimlessly around the compound. Silvia gently rummaged through the damaged wallet, examining all the pictures with great sorrow flecking her eyes. I was the first to break the silence.

"They showed me a recording, the officers." I started. "It showed a guy getting attacked by a bunch of worgs."

At this statement Silvia stared at me, shock and bewilderment clouding her gaze. "What happened?" She snapped.

"Well, the guy cut his way through the vent where he was attacked, then waited for something. That's when the worgs appeared out of nowhere and tore him to shreds." I paused, struggling to remember the details. "The Pyarith shows up, kills the worgs, picks up the remains of the guy, and runs off with them. Then you showed up and picked something up off the ground."

"From what Pyarith said, that guy was your partner somehow, and is related to me," I concluded.

Silvia sat in silence for a moment. "That guy, Rylan, was my boyfriend. I picked up his knife after the attack," she said, patting the knife tucked into her boot. "What did Pyarith say to you after you woke up?"

"Only that I was brought back to life and enhanced genetically using cat hair that the lab technicians found."

"Rylan was always fond of cats," She stated with amusement. "He had like ten cats at his house."

"So, we are related through cats?"

Silvia sighed in frustration. "You don't get it, do you? Pyarith said that he brought you back to life!"

Sitting there on the branch, the facts running through my head, the realization finally triggered.

"_I am _him!" I mumbled, staring blankly in front of me until Silvia cried out in delight and embraced me. Unable to comprehend how to respond, I leaned into her.

"Why did I come here?" I asked in a daze.

"From what I know, I think you managed to infiltrate this place in a failed attempt to rescue me."

I grinned slightly. "Way to sum up a story. So where do we go from here? Stay, or try to break out?"

"Well, there's no telling what's waiting for us beyond the walls," Silvia sighed, "and it's not like we can get out of here anyway."

"So, we stay? Try to survive?"

"We've been doing pretty well at it already, if you haven't noticed," she retorted. "I say we stay… for now."


	5. Chapter 5

Through the month after that, many of Pyarith's creations were killed off, only to be replaced by many more. I learned more about the beings imprisoned here. Many of them, more specifically the sabre, were so heavily mutated that all remaining human reasoning was replaced by primal instinct. Others, however, still retained a sliver of human ingenuity. The worgs, to my surprise, were one of these. The only reason they had attacked me was due to their desire for raw meat. One of the more intelligent creatures, though, was the giant insect.

When Pyarith had created him, he had somehow made an extremely lightweight form of the chitin that composes the exoskeleton, leaving the insect able to retain mobility. Pyarith later enhanced his brain capacity, making him able to communicate telepathically. It was through this method that I learned who he was. Like me, he suffered from amnesia, but never recovered. I decided to call him Bob, since I could not think of any other good names. He consented to this name, even chattering in what I assumed to be laughter. When I first met him, he told me the story of Slaughter Zone.

"_Back in the late 1900's, controversy over genetic mutation of the human genome was so high that riots broke out in front of many labs, research facilities, and universities to stop the experiments."_ Bob said. "_Finally, the national government consented and stopped the experiments. Ten years later, however, the worldwide government, kept secret from the public eye, began to construct the premises of Sector 12. They then put Pyarith in charge of the facility. Since then, humans have been selected from a hidden raffle, and then shipped to the premises for Pyarith to use in conquest of science."_

_ "That's how I got in here. You actually penetrated their wall, in pursuit of the one you love." _He concluded. I was sitting on the dirt floor of his bunker. The room I was in resembled the interior of an anthill, the dirt piled high into an artificial cave, and the bones of past meals littering the floor. Upon hearing the story, my head spun with anguish, misery, and chaos.

"That's terrible!" I burst out. "Someone has to put an end to this."

_"I agree completely." _His voiced echoed in my head. _"But tragically, we aren't at liberty to attempt an uprising."_

I nodded in agreement and let out a hopeless sigh. I rose to my paws, and began to exit.

"Thank you for your visit!" Bob echoed. "It's not every day I get a visitor!"

I turned to face him. "Of course! I replied slightly cheerfully. I then jumped down the tunnel that was the entrance to his bunker, shaped like a U to keep out unwanted guests. Then I clawed my way up into the warm, humid air, and proceeded to the bunker that Silvia and I shared. I moved in with her after my revelation.

She was sitting on her bed, examining the photos contained within my wallet when I entered. The domicile resembled a traditional military barrack, with metal cots lining the walls. At the far end was a sort of bathroom, with only a hole in the ground and a leaky sink. She looked up only to confirm that it was I, and then resumed admiring the photos. I collapsed onto her cot beside her and fell asleep almost instantly.

I woke to a sudden violent vibration in the ground, and opened my eyes to the bunker bathed in orange light. Jessica stirred beside me, rubbing her eyes as she sat up, adjusting to the bright light. Then I remembered that the sunrise is not visible this far north, and shot up when the ground shook again.

I rushed to the entrance, and my eyes were nearly scorched by the blazing inferno that blossomed in front of me. The tropical vegetation that grew so prominently was up in flames, produced by the hellish nozzles of flamethrowers strapped to the backs of numerous guards. I looked at the other bunkers to see innumerable mutations dead, and some others fighting against their oppressors. The guards poured out of the main building like ants from a disturbed nest, all of them wielding assault rifles and a backup handgun. They fought back fiercely, seemingly oblivious to the hellish wasteland and focused only on their targets. With inhuman reactions, they mowed down the retaliation with quick short bursts from their rifles. A sabre charged through their ranks, goring multiple assailants on its tusks. One guard, completely unfazed by the deaths of so many of his fellow comrades, quickly drew his handgun and brought the beast down with one shot to the head. Before he could move on however, a worg lunged at him and ripped the guard's head clean off of his torso.

I heard a rattle at my feet, and looked down to see a fragmentation grenade primed to explode. With speed I did not know I possessed, a tore it from the ground and hurled back to the guard who threw it. It detonated seconds later, and blew the men to smithereens. Two guards that survived the blast glanced at me, and without a second thought charged me.

Bracing myself for the fight, I unsheathed my claws and bared my teeth in a defiant snarl, with my black tail lashing in anger. I heard Silvia gasp behind me as the guards spread bullets throughout my vicinity. I charged them headfirst, somehow able to dodge the dozens of bullets that sought my life with an unquenchable vendetta. I leapt over their heads, upon touching the ground behind them, spun, and slashed through their back armor, slicing the skin wide open.

It came as a surprise when they failed to pause in pain. Quick as a fish they both aimed their pistols to point directly at my head. Realizing there was not time to dodge, I squeezed my eyes tight.

Nothing happened. I opened my eyes to see both guards dangling in the air, impaled on the claws of Bob.

"Quickly, gather the others and prepare to escape!" his voice rang in my mind as he shook the mangled corpses off of his barbed pincers. "In their haste, the guards left the tag controls unguarded."

I nodded, understanding what I needed to do. I rushed to the main building and darted through the massive doors that stood ajar. Guards were pouring out of the opening, rushing out to attempt to staunch the rebellion. They failed to notice me as I slipped through the shadows around them. I managed to make it to the underside of the staircase and climbed up the tower in this method, using my claws to dig into the numerous gaps in the stairs. When I first came here, I remembered seeing electronics equipment littering the room on the fourth floor. A plan formulated in my head. As I climbed up the stairs, I grabbed a grenade off of a passing guard.

I reached the fourth floor without any conflict. Entering the room I prepared to pull the pin, but stopped dead in my tracks.

Standing with his back towards me, his bloodstained hands tucked neatly behind his back, was Lieutenant Dagmar.

"You have no idea how long to do this." His voice was shaking with excitement.

"Where's Pyarith?" I blurted.

"Right there." Without turning around, he pointed to the corner of the room. There, the mangled corpse of Director Pyarith lay with a crater where his skull used to be. I placed the grenade on a nearby table.

"Why? Why are you doing this?" I asked.

"Why do you care?" he shouted gruffly. He turned around to face me. "Do you know what it's like, living away from your wife and kids, not even able to tell them why you can't come home every night?"

"No, can't say that I have," I dryly replied.

He continued as if I had not spoken. "I find myself disgusted that people will actually knowingly fund this mutilation of the human genome. The whole reason I enlisted with this establishment was leading up to this- the utter destruction of Sector Twelve!"

I shook my head in confusion. "If all you've ever wanted is to destroy this place, then why'd you attempt to rescue me?"

"HA!" He burst into laughter all of a sudden. "I was going to give you a proper burial! Bullock saw me carrying your corpse, and stole you from my arms! He said that nothing should go to waste, even if it came willingly!" His voice died down. "I've decided to put an end to it all. I have resorted to destroying all evidence of this forsaken facility, and killing all the projects. You have been extremely helpful these past two months, and I have decided to let you help me. Your girlfriend can aid us as well." His eyes narrowed. "Or you can join the rest of them and die like animals."

My heart stopped. Here was an opportunity to finally complete the goal I had set out to accomplish over five years ago. _Silvia and I would be free at last!_ Then I thought, _But what about all the others?_ They did not come here with a goal. They were kidnapped; forced to comply with a contract they did not sign. I made my decision.

"I can't let you kill them," I challenged. My voice rose steadily as I continued. "They are just innocent victims of a villain's twisted imagination."

"Come then, _cat, _and finish the dance!" Dagmar took off his coat and tie, and raised his heavily muscled arms to his chest like a boxer fighting his title fight. He stood about a head taller than I did, and his shirt was ready to burst at the seams trying to contain his well-toned torso.

I rolled my head around on my shoulders, stretching my neck, then dropped into a crouch and sprung. Dagmar sidestepped my lunge and pounded his fist into the side of my head. I crashed against the monitors that littered the desks and crashed to the floor on my back. The lieutenant picked me up by the neck, his hand crushing my throat. I clawed frantically, desperate to get free of the death grip. He slammed my head against the wall and, with a laugh, said "Far too easy!"

Finally my head cleared and I forced my feet into his gut, loosening his grip. I wriggled free and kicked off of his chest, landing a few feet away. Both of us gasping for air, I stood up and limped over to the massive man, preparing the final blow.

But Dagmar was fast. He swung his leg into mine, causing me to fall. I hit the ground hard, and he stood over me laughing. "How is it that you can kill all of these creatures with the pure hunting instinct of a cat, yet you struggle even to stay on your feet while fighting a simple man?"

He knelt down and poised his fist to strike the final blow to my head, pinning me to the ground with his legs. His fist rushed towards me and I dodged at the last second. His fist impaled the concrete floor and stuck tight. I leaned up and kicked into his gut again with so much power that he flew across the room, bashed his head against the wall and slumped to the floor. Before he could recover, I unsheathed my claws and plunged them deep into his chest. He winced in pain, but not as much as he should have after receiving such a grievous wound.

Suddenly, he laughed. Blood bubbled through his mouth as he said, "It's already over!" He slowly raised his arm and pointed at a damaged monitor, and my blood went cold. "Even if I die, your attempt to save everybody will have failed. They're all DEAD!"

In the monitor, sabre and worg carcasses were scattered across the clearing, mingling with the rotting corpses of guards. Bob bravely fought back, but I could tell he was not going to last much longer. The panther creatures phased in and out of view, taking down guards by the dozens. Silvia had procured a rifle and was taking shelter behind a mound of corpses rising around the doorway to our bunker. As I watched, one guard managed to get behind her and fire his weapon. She fell onto the corpses with a cry, and did not get up.

"NO!" I cried out. The guard went in for the kill, but was stopped by Bob. He tore the guard to pieces with his claws. Suddenly, six guards appeared around him and opened fire. Caught in the crossfire, bullet holes peppered his carapace and the giant insect fell to the ground.

I felt a primal growl beginning to rumble in my throat. I turned to the still-laughing Dagmar and lunged for his throat with my teeth. Red light clouded my gaze as my fangs closed together, and I pulled my head back from the powerless victim, jaggedly ripping his bloody trachea from his neck. I rushed back to the table I had placed the grenade on and grabbed it, pulled the pin, and chucked it over my shoulder into the mass of desks and ran.

It went off a second later, and I heard the mechanical buzz stop, to be replaced with silence and I darted outside, ignoring the fading whine of the turrets as I passed beneath them.

As soon as I exited the building, bullets started whizzing by my head. I raced to the ring of corpses and picked up Silvia gently. Snatching another grenade off of a corpse, I lobbed towards the wall watched it go off, blasting a sizable hole in the wall. Cradling Silvia in my arms, I was oblivious to the guards who remained and their cries as the panthers picked them off, one by one.

Only when I passed through the hole did I realize that Silvia was still alive. She coughed, and I noticed the bullet hole in her right shoulder, just above where her lung should be. Blood continued to ooze form it, staining my fur.

"We made it, Silvia," I muttered gently. "I told you we'd make it out."

END OF PART 1


End file.
